A confidential police report has revealed SEVENTEEN Birmingham children’s homes as being at risk from child sexual exploitation - as it emerged more 700 potential victims had been identified in just three months.

A new problem profile from March 2015 also stated 22 residential properties, 14 hotels, seven roads, two supermarkets and even one special school have been targeted by the predators.

It admitted: “The scale of CSE in the West Midlands is greater than initially identified by local authorities. It is clear that there are CSE victims known to local authorities and other organisations such as Barnado’s that do not appear on WMP (West Midlands Police) systems.”

To coincide with the release of the report to the Birmingham Mail, West Midlands Police and the region’s seven local authorities issued a press release revealing that 720 children had been identified as being at risk of CSE from April to June this year, including 113 as being at ‘the highest level of risk’.

The authorities said 372 offenders were currently under investigation by police, including organised crime gangs.

“The most common age group was between 21 and 28 years, with around half of Asian ethnicity, predominantly of Pakistani origin. No significant ethnic group in the region is not represented in this cohort,” the report said.

Posed by model

The March 2015 problem profile is the latest confidential report obtained by the Birmingham Mail in our long-running campaign on CSE, which has resulted in police and local authorities to now routinely release CSE data.

The new profile reveals most young victims do NOT live in areas of high crime, deprivation and unemployment and adds: “The majority of CSE victims reside outside of WMP ‘priority areas’...”

A total of 92 ‘vulnerable and frequented locations’ are referred to, but not identified in the report.

They include 22 residential houses, 17 children’s homes and ‘supported living’ premises, 15 ‘neighbourhoods’, 14 hotels, seven roads, three parks, two supermarkets and one special school and one takeaway/restaurant.

The report said: “The most vulnerable and frequented CSE locations within the West Midlands are residential dwellings, children's homes, hotels and parks.

“A number of parks across the West Midlands have been identified, which are typically being used to meet and groom children and are characteristically frequented by young people to drink alcohol and take drugs, mainly cannabis.”

The report added: “There is national and local evidence which shows that CSE takes place in hotels and guest houses. There are a number of frequented and vulnerable hotels situated across the West Midlands which are used to commit CSE offences. Predominately independent budget hotels are used by offenders; however, a number of hotel chains have also been identified as being used in CSE offending.”

It added: “Earlier CSE profiles dating back to 2010 identified that the majority of suspects and/or offenders were Asian (79 per cent) with a large proportion being of Pakistani heritage, and were likely to be from a Muslim faith background. Offences were committed by single males who had access to transport as well as groups of males.”

A key finding of the report stated that offending typically takes place with multiple CSE victims who are trafficked by groups of males with an average age of 31. Yet offenders from national force areas are not always identified on local intelligence systems.

The report said: “Using intelligence held on the Police National Database (PND), it has been possible to identifiy CSE victims associations to other CSE victims and offenders from a number of Forces nationwide. CSE is not just confined to the West Midlands but is part of a national mass-networking in scale, association and complexity.

“Some victims can be associated to numerous additional CSE victims and offenders in a number of different parts of the country.

“Furthermore, intelligence highlights that when certain victims are moved to other Force areas by Local Authorities they will form new networks with new offenders and newly associated CSE victims.

“Therefore, instead of safeguarding particular victims and preventing CSE from continuing, this practice will often displace offending. In addition, other victims will

often travel or will be trafficked to other force areas from the West Midlands for the purposes of CSE.”

The average age of offenders was 31, the report said, with an average of three offenders linked to each victim identified.

“There are a total of 138 offenders details obtained from IMS associated to 31 Birmingham victims.

“Across the West Midlands there are seven associated offenders who are associated to multiple Birmingham CSE victims.

“These offenders will commit CSE offences with other associates but are the only offenders to target multiple Birmingham CSE victims. Victims have been found at address or seen to enter addresses with these older males, have been picked up from care homes or have been passed around groups of males for CSE.”

In response to the release of the problem profile, Assistant Chief Constable Carl Foulkes said: “This latest report, together with the four others that have previously been released, has given a real insight into the journey we have undertaken along with our partners into investigating and tackling child sexual exploitation.

“We continue to make great steps to improve; including more effective processes between ourselves and partners including local authorities and third sector organisations.

“We have invested a significant amount of force resources and training into the service we provide and there is no doubt that there has been a significant cultural change. It is now very clear that the responsibility of tackling CSE lies with every police officer, staff member, PCSO and special constable.

“We are seeing more victims coming forward to report abuse, knowing we will take their allegations seriously and treat them sensitively and respectfully.

“CSE affects all communities and remains a top priority for us - nothing is more important in policing than protecting vulnerable people. Sentinel - our public protection initiative - continues to highlight the issue amongst both officers and staff, as well as the public.”

Meanwhile, the report released by police and seven local councils included the launch of a ‘revised framework’ to tackle the CSE menace.

It said: “We will ensure our whole “operating model” for preventing and protecting children from harm maintains a priority focus on CSE - including through the development of MASHs (Multi Agency Safeguarding Hubs) across the region.

“We will further develop our communications and engagement with young people, parents, schools and communities - including innovative products to confront the

attitudes, language and inappropriate behaviours that will, if not checked, fuel the next generation of exploiters.”

Stephen Rimmer

Former Home Office CSE expert Stephen Rimmer, now seconded to Birmingham City Council, said: “I am clear this framework has been seriously road-tested operationally over the last 12 months and reflects major learning nationally and locally over that period.

“The latest figures show that there are now 720 girls and boys on our “risk radar” - this is much closer to the real figure than ever before and we are collectively determined to do all we can to protect them all, and to bear down on the 372 suspected offenders also identified.

“We have more to do, but we are getting to grips with this serious problem, and putting the framework in place will be another major step forward.”